To The Ends of The Earth

Chapter 10: Deluge

Small trigger warning for this chapter in particular. There are two male antagonists with sketchy intentions towards Lilith. Nothing happens, I will never depict SA in my stories.

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The first week passed without incident. The days felt impossibly long as we crossed over rolling hills, through jagged mountain passes, and endless forests. Eventually the sights seemed to blur into one. Mountains, forests, meadows... They all looked the same in my eyes. I had no idea where we were or how far we had traveled, but Gandalf and Thorin seemed confident in their direction. We hadn't met any disturbances or heard anything of concern since the first night we'd been interrupted by the orcs' calls, and I hoped it remained that way. A quiet journey was a safe one, albeit a bit boring.

Around the beginning of the second week it began to rain. What started as a light drizzle eventually turned into a torrential downpour. Once the storm began it didn't seem to let up in the slightest, and it rained for two days straight. On the third morning of rain I found myself staring dismally at the back of Bofur's head as he tried desperately to light his pipe. We rode single file through a somewhat cleared path through the forest. Despite the cloaks we all wore, two days worth of rain had quickly soaked through. I clenched my jaw tightly to avoid the chatter of my teeth, not wanting to draw any attention to myself. I'd been through worse, after all. But after being soaked to the bone for going on three days, it was becoming difficult to stay warm. Dwarves evidently ran hotter than humans, so they didn't seem to be as phased by the cold.

"Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?"

I heard Dori's voice travel down from the front of the line. I had begun to wonder the same myself. After all, if Gandalf had the power to bring me to and from another realm, couldn't he control the weather?

"It is raining, master dwarf. And it will continue to rain until the rain is done." Gandalf said, somewhat tiredly, in return.

Well, so much for that.

I zoned out as I listened to Gandalf speak of the various types of wizards in their world. Who was who, who could do what... All I wanted at the moment was to find one capable of bringing out the sun and drying my clothes.

Bilbo's timid voice piping up brought me back to reality.

"Is he a great wizard, or is he more like you?"

Oh, Bilbo.

I turned around to look at Kili behind me and we exchanged a knowing glance. One thing we'd all picked up on about Bilbo – he certainly knew how to put his hobbit-sized foot in his mouth.

"Uncle, do you think we could stop for a moment?" Fili's voice called from the back of the line. "I feel I'm actually starting to catch a chill in this rain."

So I wasn't the only one, then.

We guided the ponies off of the beaten path we followed into a dense canopy of trees that would hopefully provide some shelter momentarily. It certainly helped, but raindrops still pelted us relentlessly through the cover of the foliage. Rather than being cold and miserable on the ponies, we instead stood cold and miserable huddled around each other. I stood beside Rosie with my arms crossed tightly over my chest, desperately trying to retain the warmth I could underneath my cloak. I knew the dwarves were just as miserable and tired of the weather, but I didn't want to admit that the temperature was affecting me as much as it was.

I jumped as I felt hands touch both of my arms from behind. I whirled around to find Kili grinning at me. He put both hands on my arms once again and turned me back around. Before I had a chance to question what he was doing, he pulled me firmly against him and wrapped his arms across my torso.